NCAA Men's Final Four organizers in New Orleans assert all systems go for Big Dance

Billy Ferrante, Vince Granito and Jeff Hundley, the co-directors of the New Orleans Final Four Organizing Committee, look a little more relaxed than they have in the past. One month away from the NCAA Final Four, and they say everything is looking good.

Rusty Costanza/The Times PicayuneThe Mercedes-Benz Superdome will be the site of this year's NCAA Final Four.

“I would say we’re on target to ahead of schedule,” Granito said Monday. “From a local standpoint, we feel very comfortable where we’re at. One of the things I feel good about is the infrastructure of people are all in place and have been in place. So from the get-go, we’ve been ahead of the curve.”

New Orleans is no stranger to events, but there’s no way we could run our events without talented people around here,” said Erik Christianson, spokesman for the NCAA.Since the 2008 announcement of the Final Four returning to the Superdome, Granito, Ferrante and Hundley have been busy planning, organizing and taking care of all the details of the big event.

The three basketball games that will be played in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on March 31 and April 2 are only a part of what the committee has been doing. As many as 30 community outreach projects will be going on in all parts of the city beginning March 12 and running through the end of the tournament.

The city will host Bracket Town at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center — an interactive fan festival featuring skills competitions, clinics and autograph sessions. Bracket Town will open March 30 and run through April 2.

The last time the Final Four was in New Orleans was 2003, and new this time around will be The Big Dance, a three-day block party concert series, also Friday through Sunday, at Woldenberg Park. The event is free to the public.

“You’ll have 75,000 in the Dome, but there are a number of people visiting who don’t have tickets for the game,” said Ferrante, who works for the Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation. “And they will attend the Big Dance and they will attend Bracket Town as well as other events.”

Fans of the four regional winners also will have designated Final Four gathering spots, at certain New Orleans restaurants, where they can meet others from their university.

There is a free event for children 18 and younger taking place on the Sunday between the Final Four and the championship game.

“The Final Four dribble starts at Champions Square, and they will dribble a basketball down Poydras to Bracket Town, and that’s free,” said Hundley, who works for the Allstate Sugar Bowl.

With all the activities scheduled for the week, the committee has turned its focus to getting the word out.

“Now that Mardi Gras is over you’re going to see a lot of messaging in the community about the Final Four, and it’s for the community,” Ferrante said. “We want the community to come out and enjoy being a part of it.”